Woman reduces her breast cancer risk by 99 per cent after undergoing procedure

A woman has reduced her risk of breast cancer by 99 per cent after undergoing a preventative prophylactic double mastectomy.

After days of pain and weeks of recovery, Sarah McAvinchey said, “I have not a single regret and I never will have. It is the best thing I have ever done.”

The marketing manager for award-winning Listoke Distillery, Sarah (30) spent most of her life waiting to have the surgery.

On her first day in secondary school, her mother Bronagh was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer and the family subsequently found out it was caused by a mutation of the BRCA1 gene.

Sarah explained that she too has the gene which meant she had, “an 80 to 85 per cent chance of breast cancer and a 55 to 60 per cent chance of ovarian cancer.”

Since then she waited for the green light to have the surgery which, “was quite intense. Basically, my breast tissue and nipples were removed and my breasts then filled with abdominal tissue.”

This also involved taking blood vessels from her lower abdomen and, “I ended up with a wound from hip to hip, the whole way across my front. Added to that were the scars on my breasts. For the first few weeks, it felt like I couldn’t move a single part of my body without pain.”

Sarah McAvinchey

To prepare for the surgery Sarah, who has polycystic ovaries and is prone to weight gain, had gastric surgery to help her lose weight on her doctor’s advice.

Over a year after gastric surgery and having lost more than five stone, she had the surgery in November last year and returned to work two months later.

“This was major surgery and the pain after it was unbearable at times. I had four drains after it, two in my lower abdomen and one for each breast. Once the drains came out the recovery was a lot easier. The scars all had various problems over the first few weeks but nothing that was overly worrying.”

“The surgery was very long, ten hours altogether and the recovery was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Now, on the other side of it, my surgeon said my risk of getting breast cancer has decreased by 99 per cent – you can’t ask for better than that can you?”

Sarah spent years thinking about breast cancer every day and “every time I felt a change in my breast or a new lump I was straight in for biopsies, MRIs and mammograms. Now all of that worry is gone.”

“My body is different and doesn’t feel quite like my own just yet, but the lack of worry and stress about cancer is life-changing. I never thought I would feel such relief but it is incredible.”

For other women who are in the same situation and have high risks of developing breast cancer, she said “It is scary putting the parts of yourself that make you feel womanly at risk.”

“You worry about what other people will think, what clothes will suit you, what your future sex life might be like and all of these are valid worries. However, nothing in this world feels better than losing that everyday fear of cancer. And after seeing what my mum went through with her cancer battle, the surgery that I had pales in comparison.”

She says her mum, as well as her dad, brother and sister, have been with her every step of the way and now she can look forward to a future free from daily worry about cancer.

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